Tory leadership hopefuls channel Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and even Tony Blair in push to make final two

Published

1 year ago

October 2, 2024

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Tory leadership hopefuls invoked their political idols Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in final speeches before the contest is whittled down to two.

While there was no love lost for Sir Keir Starmer – with jokes about the freebies row and accusations of managed decline – one contender also channelled his predecessor Sir Tony Blair with a pitch for a “New Conservative Party”.

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The comments from Robert Jenrick echo the former prime minister’s “New Labour” philosophy that brought Labour back from the brink to win them three elections after 18 years in opposition.

The Tories are hoping to eventually replicate that success after their worst-ever defeat at the ballot box in July.

Mr Jenrick is in the running for the top spot alongside Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch.

The speeches came on the final day of the Conservative conference in Birmingham, which has acted as a hustings for the four candidates to make their case to fellow MPs and party members, who will ultimately pick the winner.

Former home secretary Mr Cleverly told the conference he “hadn’t planned to run for leader”, and apologised to delegates “on behalf of the Conservative parliamentary party who let you down”.

However, his central message was for the party to be more “enthusiastic” and give a sense of a better future to win back those who switched to Labour and other parties.

‘Let’s be more like Reagan’

Channelling his political idol, the former US President Ronald Reagan, he said: “Let’s be more like Reagan. Let’s be enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic. Let’s be more normal.

“Let’s sell the benefits of conservatism with a smile, because if we do…we can see off the threat from Reform and the Lib Dems and win back Labour, and re-energise those Conservatives who stayed at home at the last general election, get them off the sofa to the ballot box and voting Conservative again.”

The speech was not without its swipes, however.

As well as attacks on Sir Keir Starmer and Reform leader Nigel Farage, who he said he would never do a deal with, Mr Cleverly made digs at the other candidates, in particular saying he didn’t “complain about immigration or walk away from the challenge” when he was in government.

Jenrick vows ‘New Conservative Party’

Mr Jenrick, who quit as Rishi Sunak’s immigration minister last year in protest over the failed Rwanda asylum policy, has made tackling the issue central to his pitch and says he wants to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to revive the scheme.

His speech made repeated references to a “new Conservative Party” under his leadership, with a five-point plan to reject mass migration, get rid of net zero, get Britain building, and provide a smaller state and a united country.

He too channelled a political idol, former prime minister Mrs Thatcher, saying the Tories need to offer reform similar to what she undertook after inheriting a Britain “broken in the 1970s” by a “stale Labour government”.

Badenoch: Time to tell the truth

Ms Badenoch, who has made a virtue out of being a straight-talker, repeated her central message that it is “time to tell the truth” and the public wants honest politicians.

The former business secretary said the July election defeat could “extinguish” the party if they do not learn the lessons, saying the result was because they stopped “acting like Conservatives” and embraced plans like net zero and oversaw higher taxes and greater immigration.

“We did not defend capitalism,” she said.

‘Conservative revolution needed’

Meanwhile former security minister Mr Tugendhat, from the moderate “one nation” wing of the party, spoke of the need for a “Conservative revolution”.

On migration, he said the solution was about “visas, not about foreign courts”, in an apparent swipe at his opponents who have been more outwardly hawkish on tackling the issue.

He said a migration cap, as promised by Mr Jenrick, “won’t work” because the UK has a skills shortage that relies on immigration – and that is something he wants to fix by funding more apprenticeships.

The contest will be whittled down to two next week in a vote by Tory MPs, then the membership will get the final say.

Up until the conference Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch, from the right of the party, were seen as the frontrunners, but the two have been embroiled in rows this week and polling for Sky News shows there is a path to victory for all candidates.

Mr Jenrick has come under pressure for claiming in a promotional video that UK special forces were “killing rather than capturing” terrorists, for fear of detainees being released under European human rights law.

Mr Tugendhat said the comments about the SAS were “wrong” and it is “upsetting” that the video had used footage of a soldier he served with in Afghanistan, who died soon after.

Ms Badenoch has come under criticism for claiming 10% of civil servants are so bad “they should be in jail” – comments she said were a joke, and for suggesting maternity pay is “excessive” – comments she said were “misrepresented”.

Politics

Watchdog criticises ‘unprecedented’ government offer to delay local elections – as five councils confirm requests for postponement

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

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Watchdog criticises 'unprecedented' government offer to delay local elections – as five councils confirm requests for postponement

The elections watchdog has criticised the government for offering to consider delaying 63 local council elections next year – as five authorities confirmed to Sky News that they would ask for a postponement.

On Thursday, hours before parliament began its Christmas recess, the government revealed that councils were being sent a letter asking if they thought elections should be delayed in their areas due to challenges around delivering local government reorganisation plans.

The chief executive of the Electoral Commission, Vijay Rangarajan, hit out at the announcement on Friday, saying he was “concerned” that some elections could be postponed, with some having already been deferred from 2025.

“We are disappointed by both the timing and substance of the statement. Scheduled elections should, as a rule, go ahead as planned, and only be postponed in exceptional circumstances,” he said in a statement.

“Decisions on any postponements will not be taken until mid-January, less than three months before the scheduled May 2026 elections are due to begin.

“This uncertainty is unprecedented and will not help campaigners and administrators who need time to prepare for their important roles.”

Mr Rangarajan added: “We very much recognise the pressures on local government, but these late changes do not help administrators. Parties and candidates have already been preparing for some time, and will be understandably concerned.”

He said “capacity constraints” were not a “legitimate reason for delaying long planned elections”, which risked “affecting the legitimacy of local decision-making and damaging public confidence”.

The watchdog chief also said there was “a clear conflict of interest in asking existing councils to decide how long it will be before they are answerable to voters”.

Sky News contacted the 63 councils that have been sent the letter about potentially delaying their elections.

At the time of publication, 17 authorities had replied with their decisions, while 33 said they would make up their minds before the government’s deadline of 15 January.

Many councils told Sky News they were surprised at yesterday’s announcement, saying that they had been fully intending to hold their polls as scheduled.

They said they were now working to understand the appropriate democratic mechanism for deciding whether to request a postponement of elections. Some local authorities believe it should be a decision made by their full council, while others will leave it up to council leaders or cabinet members to decide.

Multiple councils also emphasised in statements to Sky News that the ultimate decision to delay elections lay with the government.

Reform UK has threatened legal action against ministers, accusing Labour and the Tories of “colluding” to postpone elections in order to lock other parties out of power – a sentiment echoed by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.

But shadow local government secretary Sir James Cleverly told Sky News this morning that the Conservative Party “wants these elections to go ahead”. Sky News understands that the national party is making that position clear to local leaders.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government, said it was taking a “locally-led approach”, and emphasised that “councils are in the best position to judge the impact of postponements on their area”.

They added: “These are exceptional circumstances where councils have told us they’re struggling to prepare for resource-intensive elections to councils that will shortly be abolished, while also reorganising into more efficient authorities that can better serve local residents.

“There is a clear precedent for postponing local elections where local government reorganisation is in progress, as happened in 2019 and 2022.”

The five councils that confirmed they would be seeking postponements were:

Blackburn with Darwen Council (Labour);
Chorley Borough Council (Labour);
East Sussex County Council (Conservative minority);
Hastings Borough Council (Green minority);
West Sussex County Council (Conservative).

The councils in Chorley, and East and West Sussex, had decided prior to Thursday’s government announcement that they would request a delay.

An East Sussex County Council spokesperson told Sky News: “It is welcome that the government is listening to local leaders and has heard the case for focussing our resources on delivery in East Sussex, particularly with devolution and reorganisation of local government, as well as delivering services to residents, such high priorities.”

They also pointed to the cost of electing councillors for a term of just one year, and argued that it would be “more prudent for just one set of elections to be held in 2027”.

West Sussex County Council echoed those reasons and said it would cost taxpayers across the county £9m to hold elections in 2026, 2027, and 2028, as currently planned.

Chorley and Blackburn councils also cited the cost of delivering elections, and said they would prefer that money be spent on delivering the local government reorganisation and delivering services to local residents.

Meanwhile, 12 councils confirmed to Sky News that they would not be requesting delays:

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (Liberal Democrat-Independents);
Broxbourne Borough Council (Conservative);
Colchester City Council (Labour-Liberal Democrat);
Eastleigh Borough Council (Liberal Democrat);
Essex County Council (Conservative);
Hart District Council (Liberal Democrat-Community Campaign);
Hastings Borough Council (Green minority);
Isle of Wight Council (no overall control);
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (Conservative);
Portsmouth City Council (Liberal Democrat minority);
Rushmoor Borough Council (Labour minority);
Southampton City Council (Labour).

Politics

Samourai co-founder claims Biden-era lawfare in calling for Trump pardon

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

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Samourai co-founder claims Biden-era lawfare in calling for Trump pardon

Keonne Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his role at Samourai Wallet, is calling on US President Donald Trump to pardon him, citing similar language that has been successful in previous pardon applications.

In a Thursday X post, Rodriguez said he would report to prison on Friday, where he will serve a five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. The Samourai co-founder claimed there were no “victims” to his crime, and blamed his incarceration on “lawfare perpetrated by a weaponized Biden DOJ.”

In a message tagging Trump, Rodriguez expressed hope that the US president would issue a federal pardon for him and William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years. Rodriguez blamed “activist judges” for his legal troubles, claiming he was targeted by a “political anti-innovation agenda.”

“I maintain hope that [Trump] is a fair man, a man of the people, who will see this prosecution for what it was: an anti innovation, anti american, attack on the rights and liberties of free people,” said Rodriguez. “I believe his team […] and others truly want to end the weaponization of the DOJ that the previous administration wielded so effectively […] I believe he will continue to wield that power for good and pardon me and Bill.”

Bitcoin Wallet, Law, Politics, Court, Crimes, Donald Trump — *Source:* *Keonne Rodriguez*

Rodriguez’s public plea followed Trump’s statement that he would “take a look” at a pardon for the Samourai co-founder, claiming that he had no knowledge of the case. It’s unclear whether Rodriguez filed an official application for a pardon or is relying on public statements to get the president’s attention.

Other crypto execs successfully lobbied for a Trump pardon

One of Trump’s first acts as president in January was to issue a pardon for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence for his role in creating and operating the darknet marketplace.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who pleaded guilty to one felony in 2023 related to the exchange’s Anti-Money Laundering program, served four months in prison but also received a pardon from the president. Trump later said he “[knew] nothing about” Zhao when asked about the pardon in a November interview.

Rodriguez’s language addressing Trump mirrored comments from the White House on previous pardons. For example, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was a “weaponization of justice from the previous administration” when the president commuted the sentence of David Gentile, who was convicted of defrauding “thousands of individual investors in a $1.6 billion” scheme in 2024.